Kyle Soppe is willing to take the cheap shot on DK Metcalf. He called Metcalf “an investment I’m very much willing to make while the rest of the industry fades it,” betting that adding Michael Pittman Jr. frees Metcalf to return to his deep-threat role. Count me among the industry fading it. This is one bet I want no part of.
Fade DK Metcalf, and do it without hesitation. He is my WR43, well below his WR35 price, and if I had to choose between the two Steelers receivers, I would draft Pittman ahead of him. The reasons stack up quickly.
DK Metcalf Was Never the Alpha His Name Suggests
Strip away the reputation and the résumé is thinner than people remember. Metcalf is 28 and entering his eighth season, and he has exactly one truly special fantasy year to his name: 17.0 PPG in his 2020 breakout. In every other season, he has failed to clear 14.4 PPG. Last year he checked in at 12.5, a career low outside of his rookie campaign. He did not slip from an elite perch. He maxed out as a good-not-great WR3 a long time ago.
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Even the positional finish that props up the buy case is a mirage. Metcalf landed around WR19-20 in per-game scoring last season, which sounds fine until you remember 2025 was a down year for receiver production that flattered everyone’s rank. In 2024, he averaged 0.3 PPG more and finished as the WR30. Same player. Same output. Wildly different label. Do not draft the rank.
The Target Monopoly That Held Him Up Just Vanished
Here is the part that seals the fade. The only thing keeping Metcalf afloat last season was a total lack of competition. He led the team with 99 targets while the rest of the receiver room combined for 127. His WR2 was Calvin Austin.
That monopoly is gone. Pittsburgh traded for Pittman, who has drawn at least 111 targets in each of the last five seasons, and spent a second-round pick on Germie Bernard. There are simply more capable pass catchers, and the newest one fits the quarterback far better than Metcalf does.
Aaron Rodgers is 42 and threw the shallowest ball in the league last season, ranking dead last in intended air yards. Pittman’s low-aDOT possession game is exactly what a checkdown-happy Rodgers wants. Metcalf’s deep-threat profile is the thing this offense cannot use. Soppe put it perfectly in his own breakdown: the Steelers spent last year turning Metcalf into Michael Pittman Jr., then went out and acquired the real one.
Add it up, and you have an aging receiver who was never a true alpha, whose lone selling point just eroded, catching passes from a 42-year-old who does not throw the ball to the area of the field where Metcalf performs best. I would rather have Pittman, whose game actually matches the quarterback.
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To be fair, the fade is not risk-free. New coach Mike McCarthy should push more pass volume, Metcalf is still the clear vertical threat in the room, and Rodgers did rank second in deep-pass TD rate last season. A cheap price plus a revived deep role is a real bull path. That is just a lot of ifs riding on a 42-year-old suddenly airing it out. At WR35, plenty of managers will take that swing. I will take the receiver who fits the offense, and leave Metcalf on the board.
